The answer is a lot. A whole hell of a lot. Eventing isn't too bad, Fi and I both have our USEA numbers and we're all set. Now that I'm entering sanctioned dressage shows, I've got more numbers to deal with. Now there's a USDF number and a USEF number for each of us. And, to make things even more complicated, I have to send copies of all of these cards along with my dressage entry.
I submitted the thing online but I'm going to have to put extra postage on this envelope by the time I'm done printing out all this proof that I am who I say I am and my horse is who she says she is. Well, I say she is. Fi does not respond to Can't Drive 55, she only responds to Princess. Or cookie.
I showed up at her paddock today and called 'pony want a cookie?'. She trotted right over.
Those numbers are pretty straightforward. I just sign on the dotted line saying that the mare is mine and that she's not registered under any other number. Easy peasy. The tough number is the one that I'm still working on: Jockey Club.
When I bought the princess, I was told that she was a registered Thoroughbred, but had no papers. As I had no intentions to breed or show in anything that required breed papers, that wasn't a problem for me. Now the Jockey Club has their Thoroughbred Incentive Program. I think this is a really neat program, and not just for recognizing TBs that have gone on to new jobs. This is neat because the Jockey Club is helping owners of TBs identify their horses. A lot of horses seem to lose their histories as they move away from the track and not all of them are tattooed. I've been working with someone through this program to identify Fiona, assuming she really is a registered Thoroughbred. I have just about zero history on her, and with her limited markings, they weren't able to identify her by pictures. Today I collected some of her mane to mail off for DNA typing. This is my last ditch attempt to identify her. If this doesn't work, we can assume she's not actually a Thoroughbred.
I don't know of any other breed organization that's reaching out to help people identify their horses like this. If she's not a TB, she will have to accept her status as a *gasp* grade mare. Not that it makes the slightest bit of a difference, least of all to her. She already knows she's the neatest thing since sliced bread.
That is an astonishingly sweet cartoon. :)
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